And they were a success again! Of course, this time I decided to go with chocolate, which is always a safe bet with my family.

The ganache is so rich and velvety! I thought that it may be too strong with the amount of chocolate that has in it but it pairs with the Macarons incredibly well.

The Macaron shell has no flavour in itself, but I sprinkled a little bit of cacao on them and, really, they do not need anything else.

Chocolate
Macarons

Ingredients

(

yields
50 macarons

)

3
egg whites (aged for 3 days)

125g
almond meal

210g
confectioners sugar

30g
granulated sugar

Directions

Three
days before you make the macarons: separate the whites of
three eggs and place them in an open container in the fridge,
without covering them.

Mix
the almond meal and the confectioners sugar and triturate it in the
food processor for some minutes and sift it.

Beat
the whites until they reach a fluffy consistency. Add the granulated
sugar while beating until they are glossy and opaque, and they form
peaks.

Add
the almond meal and sugar mix little by little. You should do it in
4 or 5 times, always mixing carefully with the spatula with
movements from bottom to top, in order not to deflate the whites.

Once
all the ingredients are incorporated, pour the mix in a pastry bag
with a round tip.

Make
circles with the mixture, about a little less than 3cm diameter.
It's better if you have done yourself a template with the circles
drawn, so you can put it under the parchment paper. Once you have
finished piping the mix, hit the tray on a flat surface three times.
The air inside the mix in the macarons will come to the surface,
puncture the bubbles with a toothpick.

Let
the macarons sit until the surface has dried (you
can test it by lightly touch them with your finger- it must come out
clean). They can be done in 20 minutes or 2 hours, depending
on the humidity of the ambience. You must wait, however, otherwise
the macarons will not rise when baked.

Preheat
the oven at 150ºC (300ºF).

Bake
for 15 minutes. After this time, open the oven door and, carefully
so you do not get burned, touch the upper part of one of the
cookies. If the top can be slide off the bottom, let them bake for 5
more minutes, testing them again after.

The
baking time will depend on the oven and the temperature. It is
better to let them cook longer than to rise the temperature too
much; I have baked them for a little more than 25 minutes.

Take
them out of the oven and let the parchment paper slide off the tray
onto the table or the kitchen marble. Wait for them to cool down
completely before peeling them off the paper.

Assembling
the Macarons:

Match
the cookies by size. Put a small ball of chocolate ganache on one of
them and put the other half on it, gently. Twist the halves until
they are separated only by some milimeters.

Let
the macarons sit in the fridge, in an air sealed container for at
least 24 hours before serving.

As you can see, the shells are shiny: I used a little bit of syrup (1 part sugar, 1 part water and heat it in a pot until the sugar has completely dissolved) in order to moisten them.

Dark
Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

100g
heavy cream

½
Tbs sugar

125g
unsweetened chocolate

20g
butter

Directions

In
a small pot, heat the heavy cream with the sugar until steam starts
to rise from it.

Chop
the chocolate and place it on a heat resistant bowl. Pour half of
the heated heavy cream on it and let it melt. Stir with a spoon to
reach a shiny appearance. Add the rest of the heavy cream and stir
until the chocolate has completely melted.